Over many years, humans have learnt to express ideas through written word, and to convey emotion through music and art. Awareness of emotions has always played a big part in our survival; fear tells us when we should run, and contentment tells us when we are safe and nourished. Reacting to emotions is vital, and sight plays arguably the biggest role in extracting emotional cues from our environment.
A cross-looking person may inspire feelings of fear or discomfort, while seeing someone that looks happy may evoke feelings of happiness or calm in the onlooker. Cognitive science suggests that visual art can stimulate emotions in the viewer by taking advantage of emotional cues we've learned to interpret over the millennia. A picture of someone with a steely, harsh expression should inspire a sense of fear or unease in the average viewer, whereas a picture of a child might produce happier feelings.
Some studies do support this observation. In a functional MRI study, Kawabata and Zeki (2003) found that beautiful pictures stimulated the regions of the brain that are associated with emotion. In some instances the use of colour and symbolism can also evoke an emotional response. For instance, the colour red is often associated with danger, or anger. In the same way, chaotic lines can make the viewer experience feelings of discomfort and disorder.
These emotion-stimulating visuals; smiling children, angry faces, the colour red, and lines in disarray, are known as cognitive antecedents. Artists can use them to store an emotional state, to be experienced by the viewer later on. The emotions that art can invoke aren't always planned deliberately - they can be different for each individual. For example, in Japan the colour white is associated with death, so may invoke feelings of sadness in a Japanese viewer.
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